Mount Rushmore features the heads of four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. These men were chosen to symbolize the first 150 years of U.S. history and cultural heritage. Each of the monument heads are about 60 feet tall and are positioned 500 feet above the ground. Mount Rushmore was carved into the Black Hills in South Dakota. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, Doane Robinson came up with the idea for the monument in order to promote tourism in South Dakota. Construction started in 1927 and completed in 1941. Ninety percent of the mountain was carved using dynamite, which removed approximately 450,000 tons of rock from the site during carving.
Crazy Horse was carved as a memorial to the spirit of Native Americans. This monument is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota and depicts a Lakota Indian who lived during the mid-19th century. It stands 563 feet high. The head of Crazy Horse was completed in 1998 and measures 87 feet tall. According to the website for the Crazy Horse Memorial, Crazy Horse was chosen by the Native American community because he was a great and patriotic hero.
The Confederate Memorial Carving at Stone Mountain is located in Stone Mountain Park in Georgia, and is considered the largest high relief sculpture in the world. This monument depicts three confederate heroes of the Civil War on horseback: President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. According to About North Georgia, the carved surface measures 3 acres. The carving of the monument began in 1923 and was completed in 1972. It is 400 feet above the ground and was constructed by blowing up parts of the mountain with dynamite.
Leshan Giant Buddha is a statue of Maitreya Buddha in a sitting posture. The Buddha is located east of Leshan City, in the Sichuan Province, China. The construction of the carving began in the year 713 in the Tang Dynasty, and was completed in the year 803. When the monument was built it was the largest carving in the world, according to the Travel China Guide. Hai Tong was the monk who started the project. He thought that if a Buddha was constructed in near the rivers, the water spirit would be tamer and workers wouldn't lose their lives in water related accidents. The statue is about 233 feet high, with three, 11-foot long fingers. The shoulders are about 92 feet wide.
Petra is an ancient city carved into rock by the Nabateans more than 2,000 years ago. This city is located in the country of Jordan, about three to five hours south of the city of Amman and two hours north of the city of Aqaba. The city lies between hills that, for a while, gave it some sort of protection from invaders. The Jordan Tourism Board says Petra was used as a point of trade by the Nabateans, who would trade spices and silk and also joined many trade routes between China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. Eventually, the Romans invaded the city and that lead to the decline of it's original inhabitants. According to The Cincinnati Museum of Art, the Nabateans were able to use the hills to build their city becaue they are made of both soft and hard layers. They used the hard layers as structures and the soft layers were used to be carved out.